Kikuchi's Latest Koshien Win

by Patrick Newman (Aug 20, 2009)

If you follow NPB Tracker on Twitter, you might have already seen that Yusei Kikuchiwon at Koshien again yesterday.

I was watching the game on Justin.tv and availed myself of the
site's watch later feature, so you can check out the game from the
beginning by following this link. You can also check out the previous game, Chukyo's 15-5 drubbing of Nagano here.

I wrote a bit about Kikuchi last spring, but this was my first
chance to really see him in a game. He definitely has a live arm, with
a heater that maxed out 154 kmph (~96 mph) but mainly seemed to range
between 140-148 kmph (86-92mph). He went to his secondary stuff quite
a bit, showing a slider with good movement, and a slow curve that
appears to be more of the get-me-over variety at this point. He still
has work to do on commanding his breaking pitches, but the movement is
there and he changes speeds well.

Kikuchi has gotten public attention from just about every NPB, with
Hanshin and Yomiuri reportedly very interested in selecting him. I
wrote about the MLB teams that watched in spring as well, notably the Rangers and the Mets.
More MLB scouts have been watching him this summer, though I've learned
to take that kind of news with a grain of salt. Daily Sports reported
that the Cubs and Twins were in attendance for his August 17 game, but surprisingly I didn't see any reports of MLB scouts at yesterday's game.